Ontario Teachers and Their Unions
My name is Marnie Daly and I have been a teacher since 1970. In
those thirty-five years I have been privileged to work in both the
public and catholic school systems concentrating most of my time
in the elementary panel. Since the earliest years of my career I
have been actively involved in teacher federations at the local,
provincial and national levels. Currently, I am working as a
member of the secretariat staff for the Ontario English Catholic
Teachers’ Association.
The purpose of my comments here is to help you to gain an
understanding of the importance of membership in one of the four
teacher unions of Ontario.
Let’s start with a bit of history.
You are a member of one teacher union by virtue of the law! It is
not an option. You may wonder why.
After several decades of “unofficial” yet eventful gatherings of
various teacher groups taking place across Ontario, the government
of the day decided that there was a need to direct the agendas of
these groups.
In 1944, the Teaching Profession Act was
introduced. The Act was meant to establish the parameters for
professional conduct and a professional organization, The Ontario
Teachers Federation. The Constitution, By-Laws and composition
of the OTF are all contained within the Act. OTF was made up of
a governing body with representatives from each of its five
affiliates: FWTAO, OPSMTF (now amalgamated into ETFO),
AEFO, OSSTF and OECTA. Each teacher employed by a publicly
funded district school board automatically becomes a due paying
member of one of the four affiliates of OTF. This legal status
ensures your rights and privileges as a member.
As such you are connected! By virtue of your membership in one
of the affiliates of OTF, you are connected to every other public
school teacher in Ontario. This is enormous since there are over
140,000 members. One hundred and forty thousand highly
educated, highly skilled speakers, writers and communicators all
part of one organization!
What amazing possibilities for
professional mentoring, professional interaction, educational
lobbying and improving the status of children in our society.
Don’t kid yourself, the teacher federations have been and continue
to be at the forefront in all of these issues and many, many more.
Boy, are you connected! OTF is affiliated with the Canadian
Teachers Federation, CTF, which has representation from all
provinces and territories. It boasts a collective membership of
approximately 213,000 teachers from across Canada. CTF is
considered one of the most generous and effective outreach
organizations on the global education scene. Programs such as
Project Overseas, where Canadian teachers provide professional
development programs for teachers in other countries, have left a
positive indelible mark around the globe.
Further to that, your connection is global. CTF is a respected and
powerful member of Education International, an internationally
constituted body which involves teacher unions and professional
organizations from around the world. Through the persistent
efforts of this organization, with Canadian representatives playing
a primary role, teachers have been able to raise their collective
voices and curb the impact of the global agenda to privatize public
education and change child labour laws in developing countries.
The strides we have made in bargaining for teachers in Canada are
seen as a beacon for the rest of the world where the struggle to
protect rights and welfare are much more intense and, in some
cases, downright dangerous.
This was brought home to me very effectively when I was
attending a CTF Annual meeting. One of the guest speakers was a
very elegant and distinguished leader of the teacher union in an
African country. I remarked to her that I feel rather like a child
whining for better conditions here, after listening to her stories
about their struggle for even the most rudimentary improvements
in working conditions. She begged me not to think that way by
reminding me that teachers around the world look to Canadian
teachers as their mentors. She asked me “What would we do if
you, who are so strong, powerful, wealthy and safe, were to give
up the fight? What would we do if that light went out for us?”
How is that for an endorsement of Canadian teacher unions! How
is that for connections?
At one time it was uncommon to hear the Affiliates referred to as
anything but “professional organizations”. In the late 1990s,
however, Mike Harris’ Tory government brought teacher collective
bargaining under the Ontario Labour Relations Act, hence publicly
establishing our status as unions. So, what that means is every
publicly funded school in Ontario is a work site for many high
caliber professionals and is also a union shop.
Since we come into teaching from different backgrounds, we all
bring our own set of bias’ to the idea of unions and union
membership. For many people the word union brings to mind
troubles, strikes, demonstrations and picket lines. The media
reports we read on labour conflicts, confrontations and strikes
sound like strife is all unions are about. This powerful negative
connotation about unions was used over and over again during the
Harris years to try to turn public perception away from the teachers
and their concerns about publicly funded education. And many
people assume that these anti-union messages are true.
Let me try to deal with some of the myths about unions (and in
particular, teacher unions) for better understanding. One myth is
“Unions don’t care about anything but money.” This is a
powerful and emotional notion and it is most apparent when a
strike is about to start. That is often because monetary issues are
the last to be resolved in most rounds of bargaining. This is not
because the union refuses to settle money first (in fact unions
would love to settle wages and benefits first), it is the employer
(particularly school boards who depend on restricted government
funding) who will not deal with money until all other issues are
settled. So the public (through the media) is not informed when all
the other issues are in discussion, but only toward the end when the
only issues left are monetary and a strike is immanent. Hundreds
of agreements are reached on a myriad of educational issues
without a word about those issues in any newspaper. Debunking
this “money only” myth is particularly important for teacher
unions which constantly deal with very important and far-reaching
educational and social issues through bargaining and political
lobbying.
Myth #2: Unions protect “bad” workers. I have attended many
professional growth sessions for our members who are aspiring to
leadership roles in education. I am always asked why teacher
unions protect bad teachers.
I respond by reminding the
participants that the union does not hire these “bad” teachers, the
school board does. However, under the labour laws the union
inherits its members based on the choices made by the employer,
that is, unions do not pick and chose their membership. Unions
have the legal and fiduciary obligation to provide representation
for all of its members, in this a union cannot discriminate based on
perceptions of work performance.
Perhaps the more pertinent
question would be: What is lacking in the school board’s hiring
and/or training practices?
Myth #3: Union membership promotes poor quality of work. Long
term statistics from across North America conclusively debunk this
damaging myth. In fact, the reverse is true. Unions ensure that
highly qualified, experienced and competent individuals win jobs
over those without qualifications or proven skills. The existence of
a union and a collective agreement removes the opportunity for
preferential treatment and other money-saving hiring practices.
This all works to maintain the long-held fact that union workplaces
are more productive than non-unionized workplaces.
Some facts about unions which may impact your understanding:
1. Productivity in unionized workplaces is consistently 11%
higher than in non-union workplaces. (Continental statistics
have held this true for over 50 years)
2. Unionized workers have more job security.
3. Unionized workers have better pension plans.
4. Unionized workers have better benefits.
5. Unionized workers are safer in their workplaces.
6. Unions were at the forefront in the fight for Medicare,
Canada Pension Plan, Unemployment Insurance.
7. Unionized workers have seniority rights.
8. Unionized workers can grieve an injustice in the workplace.
All of these facts help to ensure a strong and qualified work force
which is not going to be quick to leave its employer. This, in turn,
provides the employer with less turnover and significantly better
productivity.
Ontario Teachers have debated for many years about the notion of
whether we are members of a union or members of a professional
association. In fact, we are both and we should be proud to be
both. We are two sides of the same coin.
I will try to demonstrate this as best I can - but you should
understand that time is limited and so the two lists are definitely
not exhaustive and are not mutually exclusive.
Our union side involves itself with collective bargaining, contract
management, health and safety, employment standards, benefits,
protective services, counseling services, financial assistance, legal
services, government relations, teacher advocacy, labour board
disputes, political advisory, educational finance, grievances,
teacher and labour affiliations.
While our professional association side concerns itself with issues
such as: professional development, awards and bursaries,
beginning teachers conferences, education development in other
countries, communications, public relations, educational aid,
educational finance, human rights, government relations, teacher
advocacy, professional standards, summer programs, teacher
education network, teacher affiliations, labour community
affiliations, curriculum development, leadership opportunities,
College of Teachers issues, to name but a few.
The argument is over… we are both union and professional
association and we are proud.
Often I am asked why Ontario teachers are better off in a union. It
is easy to answer such a question from my perspective because my
involvement has given me back so much. From the point of view
of someone who is just starting out in the profession, it is not so
easy to answer because notions such as seniority provisions seem
to act against new members, and union dues are being excised
from relatively low salary levels.
One thing I will say is, the day will come when your job security
will depend on the seniority provisions in your collective
agreement. Most school boards would rather employ a new
teacher at $30,000.00 over of an experienced teacher who is paid
more than $75,000.00. Without seniority provisions, job security
would not exist.
One principal was heard to say that it would be better if he could
fire all teachers at the end of each year and hire back only the ones
he wanted for the fall. That way, he could staff his school with the
type of teachers he likes and have fewer problems. To us it seems a
crazy notion to be sure, but it is not so far-fetched. Non-unionized
private schools within our own province have undergone mass
firings when the parent council of the day decided on a change of
philosophy for the school. Principal, teachers, support staff gone, no one was safe. Without a collective agreement, grievance
procedure and union to protect them, there was little recourse.
Teacher unions ensure:
you never have to stand alone to obtain the benefits,
salaries and working conditions you deserve and your
family requires
you have the protection of a grievance procedure in your
collective agreement to resolve conflict with school/board
administration
you have a strong voice at every level of the educational
community- a voice that commands attention and action
your individual rights are protected through the strength of
the collective
you have a unique opportunity to impact educational
policy which affected children, parents and society as a
whole
you are part of a secure and well-funded pension plan
which will keep you vital into your retirement years.
you have the strength in numbers to ensure that the
generations of teachers who come after you will be able to
provide for their families in a safe and secure job
you have the right to withdraw your services in a lawful
action when you feel that the employer has not provided
adequate compensation for your time and expertise.
you are part of a larger, powerful labour community which
is charged with a mandate to assist you in your time of
need through affiliation with the Canadian Labour
Congress and the Ontario Federation of Labour.
Being a member of your professional association is one thing.
Becoming involved is another. Teachers have a tremendous
workload and their time is extremely valuable. Yet many teachers
never hesitate to give up their precious free time to the board,
school and students. Relatively few dedicate any time to their
union and their fellow members. But there is much to be gained
from your involvement in your federation:
I guess the question is “What’s in it for me?”
It enriches your professional life with opportunities to
meet new people who share similar interests,
learn new skills,
be in the know about issues in education,
have a direct say in your professional association,
do interesting and challenging work on behalf of your fellow
teachers,
make a difference to what is important,
explore wider horizons in education,
add to your resume,
help to create a safe and just working environment for your
colleagues.
experience the rewards and appreciation from a job well
done.
However, it is important to realize that involvement in the union is
not just about you. It is about making life better for all.
Protect your voice and you protect your professional
integrity.
Protect your professional integrity and you protect the
profession.
Protect the profession and you protect our children and public
education.
Protect our children and public education and you protect our
society.
Protect our society and you protect the Canadian standard of
living.
Unions make life better for all.
Teacher Associations in Ontario have brought about real change in
the lives of families and children. They have lobbied and
organized to make certain that the social issues which impact on
children, families and education remain on the horizon at all times.
Class sizes and children’s learning conditions have been impacted
greatly by the work of teacher federations. Socio-economic issues
have been brought forward and debated in the public forum
because of the work of members of teacher unions. These things
are not accomplished because someone high up in the federation
had an agenda, but rather because an educated and concerned
membership demanded it.
You, too, can be part of such action.
professional association today.
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